Inc.com introduces America’s Coolest Entrepreneurs under 30..

As we always say at the City Girl Business Club, you’re never too young to start a business.

One of our favorite websites Inc.com always posts incredible stories about entrepreneurs who have launched successful businesses. We find their stories to be incredibly inspiring and think this is  a website  every entrepreneur should visit regularly.

We would like to share with you Inc.com’s list of 30 young entrepreneurs who are building incredible brands.

The list:

Name: Joe Mclure

Age: 29

Company: McClure’s Pickles

Website: www.mcclurespickles.com

2009 Revenues: $390,000

Story: Joe McClure spent his childhood in Detroit buying cucumbers and dill at farmers markets. Now, he pickles professionally. Today, an estimated 70 percent of McClures sales of pickles – a second, spicy, variety as well as new products such as relish and Bloody Mary mix – comes from retail stores, with online and market sales comprising the rest.

Name: Naveen Selvadurai

Age: 28

Company: Foursquare

Website: Foursquare.com

2009 Revenues:Undisclosed

Story: It’s been a busy month for Naveen Selvadurai. Foursquare, the location-aware social networking app that Selvaduri co-founded in 2009, picked up $20 million in a Series B round led by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen‘s venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz. Less than two weeks later Foursquare hit 2 million users, doubling the audience it had in April. The start-up is still growing steadily by 100,000 new members a week, with plans for a big redesign at the end of the summer.

Name: Jack Abraham

Age:24

Company: Milo.com

Website: www.milo.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: The San Francisco start-up Milo.com tracks 2.8 million products across 50,000 retail stores. “Amazon and eBay are Web 1.0,” scoffs founder Jack Abraham.Abraham got the idea for Milo.com when he was working at comScore. “We had data that showed people were using the Internet to research products, but buying them more often offline than online,” he says.  “Everyone was innovating in social media, but no one doing anything in shopping. Amazon and eBay are Web 1.0.”

Name: Sophia Bush

Age:26

Company: FEED Projects

Website: www.feedprojects.org

2009 Revenues: $1.5million

Story: The former president’s niece embraces social entrepreneurship with a growing line of bags sold online and at Whole Foods. FEED works directly with WFP, and other organizations such as UNICEF and Millennial Villages, to fund anti-hunger programs worldwide.Their bags are sold online, where buyers are told the exact impact of their purchase (for instance, purchase a $60 “Feed1” bag and you’ll be feeding one school child for an entire year). So far, FEED has sold just over half a million bags and provided more than 56 million meals worldwide.

Names: Garry Tan and Sachin Agarwal

Ages:29 & 30

Company: Posterous

Website: www.posterous.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: Posterous takes all the fuss out of posting content online.The concept for Posterous is decidedly simple: E-mail, its founders believe, is the gateway for sharing information—text, photos, and videos—online. Instead of logging into Facebook to post photos, or writing your thoughts down in a blogging platform, Posterous makes it feasible to do all that from an e-mail account.

Name: Sarah Prevette

Age: 28

Company: Sprouter

Website: www.sprouter.com

2009 Reveneus: Undisclosed

Story: Sarah Prevette has created a service that entrepreneurs can use to socialize, share tips, and ask questions in a rapid-fire, short-attention-span fashion. Using a Twitter-like format, Sprouter is a place online where entrepreneurs can socialize, share tips, and ask questions in a rapid-fire, short-attention-span fashion. Users leverage the site for a variety of needs, from getting peer feedback on their product ideas to learning the best practices for developing metrics for sales teams, to gleaning insight from other founders on pitching specific investors, and requesting introductions to media, potential corporate partners or investors. “Users support one another, motivate each other and help with day-to-day questions or concerns,” Prevette says.

Name: David Schottenstein

Age: 26

Company: Astor & Black Custom Clothiers

Website: www.astorandblack.com

2009 Revenues: $11,360,000

Story: A big fan of the British tailoring tradition, Schottenstein started Astor & Black, a company that sold custom bespoke clothing, at the tender age of 21. He used money he had saved from his previous business ventures to fund his vision, which was to bring custom tailoring to the general public at affordable prices. The suits, which are made in China, Hong Kong, Italy, and Brooklyn, start at $499; prices increase depending on the fabric, with the bulk of transactions in the $895 range.

Names: Michelle You, Ian Hogarth, Pete Smith

Ages: You, 29; Hogarth, 28; Smith, 28

Company: Songkick

Website: www.songkick.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: By meticulously compiling upcoming concert listings, the founders of Songkick have amassed an audience of one million fans—and the backing of Y Combinator, the prestigious incubator. The concept, which they named Songkick, piqued the interest of start-up incubator Y Combinator, which provided seed funding and counsel during the summer of 2007. Hogarth, the CEO, and Smith, COO, spent the summer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Y Combinator was then based, while You commuted from New York City on the Chinatown bus. She soon quit her job at Theme, a lifestyle magazine, to join Songkick full time as co-founder and chief of product. The company raised $1 million in an angel round led by former Skype VP of Marketing-turned-investor Saul Klein that winter, when it moved to London, and landed another $4 million in a Series A round led by Index Ventures last year.

Name: Ooshma Garg

Age: 22

Company: Anapata

Website: www.anapata.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: Ooshma Garg experienced the aha moment that led her to become an entrepreneur during her junior year of college when she served as co-president of a networking group called Stanford Women in Business. “Companies like Goldman and McKinsey would pay us $5,000 just to have dinner with my group,” Garg recalls. Yet corporate types were still pretty abysmal when it came to recruiting from a diverse field of applicants. So Garg launched Anapata, and online platform to connect employers and qualified job candidates. The name comes from a Swahili word that means “to find, attain, and achieve.”

Name: Amos Winbus III

Age: 26

Company: CyberSynchs

Website: www.cybersynchs.com

2009 Revenues: $2million

Story: Amos Winbush III has partnered with Sun to build an app used on 500,000 phones. “We’re taking the company global,” he says. “I’m super stoked.” It took losing 150 contacts on his cell phone for Amos Winbush III to stumble upon the idea for his company. In the summer of 2008, the aspiring musician and cousin of R&B singer Angela Winbush was preparing tracks for his debut album. After a late night in the recording studio, he noticed that his iPhone had gone black. That led him to investigate a way to synchronize data between his phone and his computer, and soon after, to launch CyberSynchs.

Name: Tim O’Shaughnessy and Eddie Frederick

Ages: 28 & 29

Company: LivingSocial

Website: www.livingsocial.com

2009 Revenues: $5-$10million

Story: With the acquisition of a little company called Buy a Friend a Drink, the online-bargain site LivingSocial came together in its present form. The online daily coupon industry may not be the sexiest space on the Web, but it sure has venture capitalists licking their chops. First, Chicago-based Groupon raised a whopping $135 million from Russian investment firm DST in April. And before you could say “discount,” LivingSocial had raised two consecutive rounds totaling approximately $40 million from U.S. Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Tim O’Shaughnessy, LivingSocial’s co-founder and CEO, estimates that, together, the two companies own 98 percent of the market. Both companies partner with businesses such as restaurants and spas to offer subscribers deep discounts on goods and services via a daily e-mail coupon. Right now, for instance, I could buy a LivingSocial coupon for a watercolor painting class for $47 – a discount of 69 percent off the regular price.

Name: Alexa Von Tobel

Age: 26

Company: LearnVest

Website: www.learnvest.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: Backed by Goldman Sachs and some successful executives, LearnVest founder Alexa von Tobel seeks to give young women personal finance advice. LearnVest offers online budgeting calculators, video chats with certified financial planners on the company’s staff, and free e-mail tutorials on topics such as opening an IRA. The company earns revenue from advertising and by referring its users to companies such as TD Ameritrade. In April, after just four weeks of fundraising, von Tobel closed a $4.5 million investment round led by Accel Partners, which has also invested in Facebook and Etsy. (Incidentally, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lived in the same dorm as von Tobel at Harvard.)

Name: Jennifer Hyman and Jenny Fleiss

Ages: 29 & 26

Company: Rent the Runway

Website: www.renttherunway.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: Rent the Runway’s mission, according to Jennifer Hyman and Jenny Fleiss, is to bring the Carrie Bradshaw clothing experience to budget conscious fashionistas and turn them in to loyal customers of designer brands. Rent the Runway is a membership-only designer rental company where women can rent dresses and accessories from over 100 designers and brands including Herve Leger, Diane von Furstenberg, Proenza Schouler and Badgley Mischka.  Dress rentals start at $50 for 4 days and $10 for accessories.

Name: Ryan Allis & Aaron Houghton

Ages: 26 & 29

Company: iContact

Website: www.icontact.com

2009 Revenues: $26.5million

Story: Within three days of meeting, Ryan and Aaron developed the idea for iContact: They would leverage a tool that Houghton had developed to help small businesses manage their e-mail marketing. iContact generated $26.5 million in revenue last year and has raised a total of $18 million from NC IDEA, North Atlantic Capital and Updata Partners.

Name: Dan Schawbel

Age: 26

Company: Millenial Branding

Website: http://www.personalbranding.com/

2010 Revenues: $100,000

Story: The mission of Schawbel’s business, Millennial Branding, is two-fold: He teaches members of his own generation why a personal brand is important and then shows them how to create one using social media; and he works on corporate branding strategies for companies including Time Warner and Citigroup.

Name: Stephanie Kaplan, Windsor Hanger, and Annie Wang

Ages: 21

Company: Her Campus

Website: www.hercampus.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: The three partners decided to create an online magazine that would serve college women nationwide with content in six different topic areas – Style, Health, Love, DormLife, Career, and World – and also house micro sites for other schools with campus-specific content maintained by students on those campuses.

Name: Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk

Age: 28, 28, 27

Company: AirBnB

Website: www.airbnb.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: San Francisco start-up AirBnB is like a Craigslist for the couch-surfing set . AirBnB is used in nearly 5,000 cities in 142 countries. The company landed a $20,000 investment from Y Combinator; recently, the Wall Street Journal reported an investment from Sequoia Capital, but the trio of founders won’t comment on that. The company is hiring so fast – and is still based out of the original South-of-Market apartment – that Chesky has been pushed out of his bedroom. That’s right – he’s pledged to be homeless. He’s using only AirBnB to find accommodations for the year. A PR stunt to be sure, but also a test of the infrastructure of this laid-back but wildly popular business that started with a “yeah, whatever.”

Name: Callie Works-Leary

Age: $29

Company: City Craft

Website: www.citycraft.com

2009 Revenues: $35,000

Story: Dallas entrepreneur Callie Works-Leary hopes to build CityCraft into the Crate & Barrel of the sewing world. To build a community of sewers around CityCraft, Works-Leary created a sewing lounge at the store. She describes it as “a studio fully stocked with sewing machines, cutting tables, and all the necessary supplies and materials to create beautiful sewn creations whether in a class, workshop, or during an open sewing lounge night.” On sewing lounge nights, the store serves complimentary wine and snacks and plays music. “Customers use the store like their own studio, sewing in an encouraging, relaxed group setting,” says Works-Leary. CityCraft also has summer sewing camps for kids and teens.

Name: Jeffrey Powers & Vikas Reddy

Ages: 27 & 26

Company: Occipital

Website: www.occipital.com

2009 Revenues: $1million

Story: The founders of Occipital launched one of the most successful apps around. Then they sold it, to help them fund yet more app development. The business has developed RedLaser, the best-selling iPhone app that lets users scan barcodes. RedLaser has been downloaded more than two million times, mostly at $2 a pop (Apple takes 30 percent of that), making it one of the most popular paid-iPhone apps on the market.

Name: Ashleigh Hansberger

Age: 28

Company: Motto Agency

Website: www.mottoagency.com

2010 Projected Revenues: $600,000

Story: To help companies launch, grow, and reinvent their brands through good, old-fashioned storytelling and innovative use of social media, Hansberger, 28, launched Motto Agency. Her Myrtle Beach, South Carolina-based company is on track for $600,000 in revenue this year.

Name: Fraser Doherty

Age: 21

Company: Super Jam

Website: www.superjam.co.uk

2009 Revenues: $1.2million

Story: Just call him Jam Boy. Fraser Doherty doesn’t mind a bit. In fact, he encourages it. Doherty, a boyishly charming Scot with a brogue to match, is the jam darling of the U.K Doherty’s big break came when he met a buyer at Waitrose, a major supermarket chain in Britain, and tentatively sold him on the idea. He then lined up a factory. At every step of the way, his age prompted skepticism. “I was a teen with no money and no experience, so most people rejected me,” he recalls. “But then I finally convinced a jam facotry to work with me and we figured out how to produce the recipes that I had developed in my parents’ kitchen on a big scale.” He also hired an ad agency, which came up with a comic book-like brand identity for the product.

Name: Andrew Kortina & Iqram Magdon-Ismali

Ages: 27 & 26

Company: Venmo

Website: www.venmo.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: Venmo is a mobile-based platform that allows friends to exchange money using their phones.
Say you’re having a drink with a friend and you’re short on cash. If your buddy also has Venmo, you can use your iPhone or Android to pay him for your share of the tab by simply texting Venmo “pay Andy $12.50.” You can keep a balance to draw from in your Venmo account, or your payment can be charged to a credit card or bank account that you register with the company. Your friend can then transfer the money from Venmo to his bank account. “Every time a payment is issued from your account, you get a text message and an email,” says Kortina. “And you can pin protect your transactions.” Venmo also allows you to set up “trust” relationships with other users – typically family members or close friends – who can draw upon your Venmo account without prior authorization.

Name: Chris Easter & Bob Horner

Ages: 26 & 29

Company: The Man Registry

Website: www.themanregistry.com/

2009 Revenues: www.themanregistry.com

Story: The Man Registry, a website with more than 3,000 gifts that appeal to grooms, Easter was two months away from marrying Horner’s younger sister. t was then that the two became aware of what they saw as an appalling lack of guy-friendly gifts on traditional registries and decided to do something about it. “We’re all about groom involvement in the whole process,” says Horner. So in March 2008 he and Easter teamed up with several retailers that offered gifts for guys, such as sports apparel, grilling accessories, and the always popular remote control beer cooler. Orders are placed through The Man Registry and then the retailer ships the items directly to the customer, allowing Easter and Horner to avoid the burden of maintaining inventory.

Name: David Graff, John Wirtz, and Brian Kaiser

Ages: 27

Company: Agile Sports

Website: www.hudl.com/about

2009 Revenues: $475,000

Story: The Broncos, the Browns, and the Jets all use Agile Sports’s software to help players memorize offensive and defensive schemes. A month after signing with the New York Jets in 2008, Brett Favre memorized between 40 and 50 percent of the team’s complex offensive playbook. By the season kickoff, he had 75 percent of the plays down cold. He did it all with the help of coaching software developed by three twenty-somethings in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Names: Maverick Carter

Age: 28

Company: LRMR Innovative Marketing & Branding

Website: www.lrmrmarketing.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: If you’re a basketball fan who followed the LeBron James free agent chase, the name Maverick Carter should be a familiar one. Alternately labeled as James’s “business partner” and “manager,” Carter has emerged as one of the most trusted voices in the inner circle of basketball’s most dynamic young star. He has put together sponsorship deals for James with McDonald’s and State Farm, and he negotiated a contract extension with Nike when James’s original deal with the sports apparel mammoth expired this year. Carter says James will now focus on strengthening his partnerships with his corporate sponsors rather than adding new ones. Forbes estimates that James made $43 million in salary and endorsements in the past year.

Name: Tyler Balliet & Morgan First

Age: 29 & 26

Company: The Second Glass

Website: www.secondglass.com

2009 Revenues: $230,000

Story: Balliet and First loved wine but felt that no one was marketing it properly to their generation. Their company connects wine sellers to young consumers through wine tasting events, called Wine Riot, and through its website. The Second Glass, an online resource for wine information geared toward Millennials, was founded by Balliet after a part-time job in a Boston wine shop taught him that customers were yearning for basic information presented in a down to earth way.

Name: Luke Biewald & Chris Van Pelt

Ages: 28

Company: Crowdflower

Website:www.crowdflower.com

2009 Revenues: Unidisclosed

Story: Crowdflower matches an international online workforce with companies that need a large volume of simple work completed quickly. The cost to companies that use Crowdflower is based on the difficulty of tasks, the accuracy they require tasks to be done with, and a mark-up that varies depending on the complexity of finding quality workers, and assuring the quality of their work. By just filling out an online form, businesses, for a cost that’s much lower than hiring a temp staff, or opening a phone bank, can access a global workforce to do projects that range from mundane to time-intensive.

Name: Sean Whalen

Ages: 28

Company: AlterG

Website: www.alterg.com

2009 Revenues: Undisclosed

Story: When soccer star Oguchi “Guch” Onyewu ruptured his patellar tendon last October during the United States team’s game against Costa Rica, it seemed unlikely that the defender would recover in time for the FIFA World Cup in June. But recover he did, helping the U.S. tie England 1-1 on June 12. Sean Whalen likes to think that his company, AlterG, which makes the anti-gravity treadmill that Onyewu used for rehab, had something to do with the win. “To recover from that in seven months, and be fit for the World Cup, is simply an amazing feat,” says Whalen. “To us, it really validates the power and effectiveness of our technology.”

Name: Maia Josebachvili & Bram Levy

Ages: 26 & 30

Company: Urban Escapes

Website: www.urbanescapesusa.com

2009 Revenues: $250,000

Story: Josebachvili has a passion for skydiving but when she was an undergrad at Dartmouth she couldn’t afford it. So she recruited all her friends and acquaintances to go along with her and she was able to skydive for free.After graduation she continued to coordinate skydiving and other outdoor trips even while working as a derivatives trader on Wall Street at Susquehanna International.  In 2008, Josebachvili decided to take the plunge and create Urban Escapes, offering a varied assortment of outdoor escapes such as hiking and hang gliding. In the company’s first year, it brought about 500 people on trips.

Name: Joshua Dziabiak

Age: 23

Company: ShowClix

Website: www.showclix.com

2009 Revenues: $4.5million

Story: ShowClix helps small venues distribute tickets entirely over text message and e-mail. ShowClix has gained some 1,000 customers and delivered more than 1 million tickets. The company sets itself apart by delivering tickets by e-mail or by text message, and by offering its customers access to real-time sales reports. Earlier this year, the business debuted an app that enables venues to scan tickets on customers’ phones with any Android-powered device. ShowClix charges venues between 7 and 15 percent of ticket sales—a much lower fee, Dziabiak says, than that of any of its competitors, including Ticketmaster.

For more information and to see videos of the entrepreneurs, please visit www.inc.com

Top Networking Sites for Entrepreneurs!

Hi Ladies!

Are you getting the results you want for your business on Twitter and Facebook? Although they are both great websites for advertising your business and for networking, you may want to explore other options.

Below is a list of networking sites we feel are best suited to entrepreneurs. Networking is an essential part of any business because it allows you to build new business relationships and generate business opportunities at the same time. Many entrepreneurs agree that business networking is a more cost effective method of generating new business than advertising or public relations efforts. This is because business networking is a low-cost activity that involves more personal commitment than company money.

LinkedIn.com
The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.

Meetup.com

Helps groups of people with shared interests plan meetings and form offline clubs in local communities around the world.

Ecademy.com

A business network for creating contacts and sharing knowledge.

Entrepreneur Connect

A community by Entrepreneur.com where professionals can network, communicate, and collaborate with others.

Fast Pitch.com

A business network where professionals can market their business and make connections.

xing.com

The platform offers personal profiles, groups, discussion forums, event coordination, and other common social community features. Basic membership is free.

biznik.com

Biznik is an award-winning business networking community for anyone growing a business.

AmericanExpressOpenForum

An online community to help business owners grow their businesses.


Networking for Professionals

A business network that combines online business networking and real-life events.

StartupNation

A community focused on the exchange of ideas between entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners.

Young Entrepreneur

A forum-based site for entrepreneurs and small business owners who are passionate about promoting business for themselves and others.

Tina Wells – from a teen reporter to a multi millionaire!

TOP GIRL of the month goes to Tina Wells

Hello Ladies,

Here’s more inspiration for those of you considering starting your own business. Remember, it’s never too early or too late to start living your dream.

Tina Wells, 30, is the CEO and founder of Buzz Marketing Group, a multi-million dollar company that surveys teenagers and advises Fortune 500 companies on how to reach that target audience.

Tina began writing product reviews for The New Girl Times, a national newspaper based in New York City at the age of 16. When companies found out about her, they hired her to review the products and offer feedback through the eyes of a teenager. It wasn’t long before Tina began receiving more products than she could review by herself.

In three short months Tina had acquired 40 clients , but she had to hire ten friends to help her with the work. In 2000, CosmoGIRL! Magazine held a contest that featured Buzz, and Buzz received 15,000 applications.

Since then, it has grown as a teen and young adult oriented company conducting peer-to-peer research, product testing, and promotions, among other things.

In keeping with the mission of BuzzMG, Tina has created a network of 9000 teen consultants (“buzzSpotters”) with who have the same passion for pop culture as herself.

Through innovative marketing strategies, research initiatives and youth marketing, Buzz has acquired clients in the fashion, beauty, entertainment, business and lifestyle sectors such as: St. Martins Press, PBS, Procter + Gamble, AMAZAR Holding, SonyBMG, And1, Sesame Workshop, and Time Inc with many more under her belt.

Tina’s ascent from teen dreamer to CEO has landed her a long list of honors such as: Essence 40 Under 40, Billboard’s 30 Under 30, AOL’s Black Voices Black Women Leaders in Business top ten list, Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30 and 2009 Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Tina has also been appointed to the National Board of Directors for the Friends of Orphans, and is on the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Orchestra.

She has been quoted and featured in such high profile publications as O Magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Essence, Entrepreneur, CosmoGirl, Brandweek, Savoy, Justine Magazine, Ebony, Brass CU’s cover and Link Magazines.

Find out more about Tina and Buzz Marketing at www.buzzmg.com

Want to Pitch to Investors? Funding Post is making it possible!!

Do you want to pitch your business idea to a panel of investors in hopes of securing funding?

Check out Funding Post ‘s “Pitching across America”

FundingPost will be looking for the “hottest” emerging companies to “Pitch” to investors across America! It couldn’t be easier to enter – all you have to do is have an active FundingPost Entrepreneur Account and enter the competition between June 15 and August 30, 2010. In its 7th year, with over 100 VC and Angel Investor Judges, this is the largest venture competition ever hosted!

To Enter your Company in Pitching Across America™ 2010 you must sign up for a Funding Post account which you can access here http://www.fundingpost.com

Once you have completed your FREE company funding profile Funding Post will report back to you on how many Venture Capital sources and Angel Investors may be interested in funding your business. After you complete your company profile and are ready to raise capital from their Venture Capital and Angel Investor network, you can choose to activate your company profile. If you want Funding Post to activate and showcase your company profile to its venture capital and angel investor network, the fee will be $100 for the initial 3 month listing. After the initial 3 month listing you will be charged $30 a month for as long as you wish to remain in their investor network. Active business profiles are showcased to the thousands of Venture Capital funds and Angel (Private Investor) groups ($106.82 Billion) within their funding / corporate finance network.

A panel of 100+ Venture Capital and Angel Investors will act as “judges” in this competition, read Company profiles online, and rate them from 1 – 10 (10 being the best possible score):

There will be 50 Top-rated Companies selected from across the US, and 1 Company will be selected as the Top Emerging Company in America. These companies will receive exclusive access to pitch to Investors at FundingPost CEO events, inclusion in a featured VC mailing, a full year listing on FundingPost online, and the Top Emerging Company will even be able to pitch for free at every FundingPost event nationwide! All of the previous years winners have raised capital since winning the competition!!

Competition : http://www.fundingpost.com/pitch-america.asp?refer=paama2

Good Luck!

Money, Money, Money-Grants, Loans, and one Contest

Hi Ladies,

We at the City Girl Business Club know that it can be a very daunting task trying to find funding for your small business, this is why we try to bring you as many resources as we can.

CONTEST

Pitch.co Would you like to win $50,000 for your business?

Let .CO help turn it into a reality! .CO is the new web address that offers people and companies more choice in branding their online presence with a truly global, recognizable and credible domain. Enter the Create Your Opportunity Contest for a chance to win your your ideal .CO domain and $50,000!

You can enter the Create Your Opportunity Contest between May 4 and June 14 by registering on Pitch.co and telling us and the world about your big idea, your ideal .CO web address and why you should win the contest. The more thorough, well thought-out and passionate your pitch, the more likely it is to get lots of votes from the public. Once you submit your idea, you’ll want to promote it like crazy. Get on Facebook, email, Twitter, your phone and wherever else and beg, borrow or plead to get your friends, family and strangers to vote for your entry. You must be at least 18 years old (or the legal age of majority in jurisdiction of residence if older than 18) and a US resident to submit an entry.

Go to www.pitch.co for more information and to enter.

GRANT PROGRAMS

Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Award Program
This program gives grant money away every year to girls between the ages of 12 to 18. Applicants must demonstrate a keen interest in entrepreneurship, and must show how they are making a difference in their communities and schools.
Grant Amount: $2,000
www.guardianlife.com/womens_channel/girls_going_places/girls_going_places.html

Huggies Mom Inspired Program

The Huggies® MomInspired™ Grant Program is awarding up to $15,000 in seed money as well as business resources to further the development of original product ideas and startup businesses. Huggies® does not specifically seek ideas that are diaper or hygiene related. Available grants range from $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 based on the applicant’s business needs and goals.

https://www.huggiesmominspired.com/About.aspx

Caleb Brown Community Business Grant Program
Caleb Brown Venture Capital and Consulting is a Chicago-based, minority-owned VC, that manages a community business grant program that gives away cash awards and more than 6,000 consulting hours to national business enterprises.
Grant Amount: Up to $12,000
www.calebbrownonline.com/Grant_Application.html

FHLB Economic Development Program (EDP) Plus Grants
EDP Plus grant funds are available to help member institutions of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas meet their community development needs. It’s a first-come, first served noncompetitive small business grant program, designed to provide capital to under-served areas or to under-served populations in Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Grant Amount: Up to $25,000
www.fhlb.com/community/cip_edpplus.html

Green Heroes Grant Program
The Green Heroes Grant Program will give green to those who do green. Through this initiative, the makers of Green Works® natural cleaners, with help from Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, will award $60,000 in grant funding to individuals, organizations and schools that are making their communities a greener place.
Grant Amount: Varies
www.greenworkspresskit.com/Green_Heroes_Grant_Program.html

MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneur Series (MUES)
This series is an annual competition for minority business owners sponsored by MillerCoors. Launched in 1999, to encourage entrepreneurship in urban areas, the competition has just celebrated 10 years of giving away business grants to applicants who submit the best business plans. The Urban League is a huge partner in this initiative.
Grant Amount: $25,000 – $100,000
www.millercoorsmues.com

Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
OPIC is a U.S. government agency that helps companies invest overseas, and create economic development in new and emerging markets. They have a Small and Medium Enterprise Financing program that provides business grants to companies with annual revenues of $250 million or less.
Grant Amount: Varies
www.opic.gov

Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEG) Program
This program provides grants to finance the development of small and emerging businesses in rural areas. The funds can be used for land acquisition, construction, renovation, technical assistance, project planning, and more.
Grant Amount: $25,000 – $100,000
www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/rbeg.htm

U.S. Dept of Energy’s Inventions and Innovation
This program offers financial support to individuals and small businesses who develop energy-saving concepts and ideas. Business grants are awarded to companies who stand out during their competitive process.
Grant Amount: $50,000 – $250,000
www1.eere.energy.gov/inventions/

VetFran Business Grant Fund
This fund, sponsored by the IFA Educational Foundation and the PepsiCo Foundation, gives grant money to veterans who have been awarded a franchise through the IFA VetFran program. Applicants have to write a 500-word essay, and the grant money must be used for business development, education, training, etc.
Grant Amount: Up to $10,000
http://emarket.franchise.org/misc/VetFran_BusGrnt.pdf – About The Grant Fund
www.franchise.org/Veteran-Franchise.aspx – About The Franchise Initiative

LOAN PROGRAMS

Community Express
Community Express is an SBA pilot, 7(a) loan program for small businesses in low and moderate income areas. Lenders are not required to take collateral for loans up to $25,000. Lenders may use their existing collateral policy for loans over $25,000 up to $250,000.

Microloan Program

Provides very small loans to start-up, newly established, or growing small business concerns. SBA makes funds available to nonprofit community based lenders which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers in amounts up to a maximum of $35,000. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and all credit decisions are made on the local level.
Accion Small Business Loans
Offers flexible loans (up to $50,000) to small business owners who have limited or no access to traditional business credit, including women and minorities.

Basic 7(a) Loan Program
For starting, acquiring and expanding a small business, 7(a) loans are the most basic and most used type loan of SBA’s business loan programs. Borrowers must apply through a participating lender institution.

Make-mine a million M3 competition-June 14th an 15th

Ladies! If you are looking for a way to grow your business with the help of some of the best experts around, you might want to check out the “Make mine a million” program from Count me in.

“Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence is the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources, business education and community support for women entrepreneurs seeking to grow micro businesses to million dollar enterprises. Make Mine a Million $ Business is a program of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence — and founding partner, OPEN from American Express®. Count Me In introduced the Make Mine a Million $ Business to help women entrepreneurs grow and build sustainable enterprises, create jobs and develop innovative products and services. The M3 Award provides a combination of coaching, financing and marketing tools that will help you take your business from micro to millions”.

About the competition: The next Make Mine a Million $ Business Competition will be held in Newark, New Jersey on June 14 and 15, 2010 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Eligibility The company must be at least 50% owned by at least one woman who is a U.S. citizen or legal resident. The business should be at least two years old and have annual revenues of at least $200,000. The company’s product or services should have (in the judges’ opinion) the growth potential to achieve $1 million or more in annual revenues within two years. The owner(s) should have four or more years of relevant industry experience. The business must show a reasonable debt-to-equity ratio (in the subjective discretion of the judges) including the capacity to assume additional debt. The owner has a personal credit history which is satisfactory to the judges.

All Applicants who are selected as Finalists must attend the Event at their own expense and be willing to participate in the coaching program, related public relations events, and promotions for the Make Mine a Million $ Business program and its Sponsors and other partners. In some cases applicants may be asked to change the event/location to which they have applied. You will be notified by Count Me In if this occurs.

Award Business coaching from Count Me In’s coaching partner, The Coach Connection
Count Me In’s Capital Concierge Service – personalized assistance from Count Me In experts who will help you prepare your financials to pursue financing through SBA lenders, plus access to American Express Platinum Card for selected Awardees
Press coverage for you and your business from American Express OPEN through local and national television, newspapers, magazines, radio and blogs
Business Membership to a Sam’s Club near you, providing great discounts and services including access to health insurance and health care, merchant credit card processing solutions, and marketing and website management , for one year.
Membership in WIPP, a bipartisan public policy organization, will help you identify the issues that affect your bottom line and provide assistance obtaining federal contracts, capital, technology and energy opportunities.
Discounts on select shipping and office and print services from FedEx
Opportunities to reach new national markets with partners like their Founding Sponsor American Express OPEN, plus Dell, FedEx and Sam’s Club and more.
Membership in an exclusive network of Make Mine a Million $ Business Awardees, a group of successful entrepreneurs and no-nonsense experts dedicated to answering your questions and helping you grow on a daily basis.

Application Deadline The deadline for applications is May 15th, so you may want to apply now at http://www.makemineamillion.org/competition/step1.

One man’s rags to riches story-inspiration for the ladies

Farrah Gray is  a philanthropist, best-selling author, syndicated columnist, motivational speaker and entrepreneur. Now in his twenties, he is one of the most sought after motivational speakers around.

Growing up in the projects on Chicago’s south side, Gray became a self-made millionaire by the age of 14. At six years of age, he started selling   home-made body lotion and hand-painted rocks (to be used as book-ends). At age 7, he was carrying business cards that said“21st Century CEO.” At 8, he became co-founder of Urban Neighborhood Enterprise Economic Club (U.N.E.E.C.) on Chicago’s Southside. He later founded another organization called the “New Early Entrepreneur Wonders (NE2W)” which was located on Wall Street. NE2W helped at educated and at risk youth by creating and developing legal ways for them to acquire additional income. Gray is the youngest person to have an office on Wall Street.

In his teens, Gray launched a new project seling KIDZTEL pre-paid phone cards, he also started a One Stop Mail Boxes & More franchise and developed The Teenscope “Youth AM/FM” interactive teen talk show. Gray also launched Farr-Out Foods, “Way-Out Food with a Twist,” aimed at youth familiar with the company’s first Strawberry-Vanilla syrup product. Farr-Out Foods “Foodfulooza” generated orders exceeding $1.5 million.

Gray is the author of “Reallionaire” which was nominated by NBC & Publishers Weekly Quill Awards in the category of “Health/Self-Improvement.” His book appeared on Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s Bestseller List two weeks before its international release. “Reallionaire” was also named as the #1 Best selling Nonfiction Paperback Book in the August 2005 Issue of Essence Magazine. Gray’s book and his journey to succeed against the odds have become required reading and part of classroom study from elementary school to entrepreneurship departments on college campuses. “Reallionaire” has been endorsed by former President Bill Clinton, Pierre Sutton, Stedman Graham, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Gray is also a Contributing Author to Chicken Soup for the African-American Soul.

The timeline of Gray’s accomplishments listed on http://www.drfarrahgray.com/ is as follows:

At Age 6,
* Farrah Gray sold body lotion for $1.50 from door to door

At Age 7,
* he carried a business card that read “21st Century CEO”

At Age 8,
* in Chicago, Farrah started UNEEC (Urban Neighborhood Economic Enterprise Club)

At Age 9,
* At 9, almost 10, Farrah co-hosted radio show “Backstage Live” in Las Vegas reaching 12 million listeners every Saturday night

At Age 12,
* Farrah had a lucrative nationwide speaking career commanding $5,000 – $10,000 per appearance

At Age 13,
* Farrah started Farr-Out Foods, a specialty foods company headquartered in New York, targeting young people

At Age 14,
* Farrah officially became a millionaire by hitting sales of $1.5 million for Farr-Out Foods
* Farrah started New Early Entrepreneur Wonders (NE2W) Student Venture Fund

At Age 15,
* Farrah negotiated selling of Farr-Out Foods for one million plus
* Farrah founded the Farrah Gray Foundation
* Farrah was sent a special invitation to consult and oversee an entrepreneurial institute for The Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce
* Farrah was elected by the United Way of Southern Nevada to sit on the Board of Directors for a three-year term as the youngest director ever to sit on any United Way board nationwide
* Farrah had the distinct honor of serving as the youngest Board of Advisor for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce

At Age 16,
* Farrah acquired INNERCITY Magazine from Inner City Broadcasting Corporation

At Age 17,
* Farrah financed a comedy show on the Las Vegas Strip, which gave him the distinct honor of being the second African-American after Red Foxx to own a show production on the Las Vegas strip

At Age 19,
* Farrah signed his “Reallionaire” book deal with HCI
* Farrah Gray became a Contributing Author to “Chicken Soup for the African-American Soul”. Both books were published by Health Communications Incorporated (HCI) publisher of the New York Times and USA Today Best-Seller Chicken Soup for the Soul Series

At Age 20,
* Farrah, as a real estate investor, was elected as youngest member to sit on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc. Region 15 (N.A.R.E.B.®), the oldest and largest minority trade association.
* Became an International best-seller with the book “Reallionaire”.

At Age 21,
* Became Spokesman for the National Coalition for the Homeless.
* First Premiere Bank released the “GoFarr” Farrah Gray Mastercard.
* Launched University of Business Futures (UBF), an entrepreneurship school, developed in a partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and graduated with 300 students.
* Became the youngest in HBCU history to receive an honorary doctorate from Allen University.

At Age 22,
* Co-founded Realty Pros a property asset management company.
* Became Spokesman for National Marrow Donor Program African-American Initiative
* Became a syndicated columnist through the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of 200 weekly newspapers, reaching over 15 million readers.
* Became an AOL Money Coach.

At Age 23,
* Released the “Get Real, Get Rich: Conquer the 7 Lies Blocking You from Success” (Dutton Hardcover) and Brilliance Audio Book on CD, Cassette, MP3 CD

At Age 24,
* Realty Pros reached over $30 million in total assets under management.
* Serving second term as Chairman of The National Coalition for the Homeless Bringing America Home Campaign
* Released “THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU RICH: The New Road Map to Radical Prosperity” (Plume Paperback)
Gray’s books have been translated into Russian, Korean, Indonesian and Vietnamese languages with book sales in Africa, Australia, and Europe and in Central and South America countries.

To find out more about Farrah Gray please visit www.farrahgray.com

Look like a million dollar company without the price tag!!!

You’ve launched your business and it’s growing at a steady pace. You have a home office, but don’t want to bring clients there. The thought of paying thousands of dollars every month for an office space makes you nervous. What do you do?

One word: REGUS

“Regus is the world’s largest provider of workplace solutions, offering the widest range of products and services that allow individuals and companies to work however, wherever, and whenever they need to.

Regus operates over 1000 business centers across 450 cities in 75 countries. Products and services include fully furnished, equipped and staffed offices, world-class business support services, meeting conference and training facilities and the largest network of public videoconference rooms all serving over 200,000 clients daily”.

Some of the services provided include:

• A prestigious address
• Your mail forwarded or saved for you to collect
• A local telephone number with scripted call answering, screening and forwarding
• Your messages passed on by phone, SMS, email or via secure online portal
• On-site admin support, for everything from photocopying to travel bookings
• All the benefits of a full-service office without the overhead

Prices start at $49 per month for a virtual office, however there a number of different products you can choose from.

One of the most attractive products on offer is the businessworld membership plan. Regus businessworld is a great option for entrepreneurs who are always on the road.

The different types of memberships are:

• Blue: Instant discounts and special offers on Regus products
• Gold: Unlimited walk-in access to executive business lounges and cafés with free high-speed internet and complimentary refreshments
• Platinum: An office in an open plan environment wherever you need it, whenever you need it
• PlatinumPlus: A private office in any of Regus’ centers worldwide

For more information please visit  www.regus.com

City Girl Business Club Launches Mega Business Directory

With over 345 pages of information, the City Girl Business Club’s Mega Directory is full of incredible contacts and resources to help you launch your business.

Save time by browsing through the Mega Directory, take notes and chose the best services for your business.

The Mega Directory was created to ease your search for information and contacts during your business launch.

The following is an example of some of the categories in the Mega Directory to assist you with your search. Use each one as a tool in your quest for information and contacts:

Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms
Grants & Scholarships for Women
Free & Low Cost Business Counseling
Legal Help, Trademark, Copyright
Wholesalers & Manufacturers
Business Training & Seminars
Government Resources
Tradeshow Producers
Business Plan Writing Software & Services
Media Buying Agencies & Publicity
Packaging & Supplies
And much, much more!

She made Millions with Languages!!!!!

TransPerfect is one of the five largest language service companies in the world with estimated revenues at about $225 million. The company which also includes Translations employs 250 full-time staffers and 4,000 subcontractors, with 31 offices worldwide offering translation services.

Founder Elizabeth Elting explains how she got started in an interview with Pink Magazine.

“We basically started with zero money. We didn’t even have a computer. We rented one for $40 a month. We had no office space, no employees. We used a credit card for a few thousand dollars, but that was it. And the moment a check came in, we would run to the bank so we could pay our linguists. Our first goal was to be in an affordable office in six months – which we did. After a year and a half we hired our first employee, and two years later we moved into the office complex we’re in now. Then we started opening offices around the world. In the beginning we hired subcontractors and focused on quality control by hiring an outside translator, editor and proofreader for each project. In the beginning, we took a very aggressive approach to sales. Every day we made hundreds of phone calls and sent out hundreds of letters. We took it one client at a time and one project at a time. To grow at this point we still do the same thing, even though 97 percent of our projects come from repeat business and referrals”.

Elting has received numerous awards including Working Woman Magazine’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award for Customer Service, the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Inc. 500 Award, and the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 Award four times. She was also named Woman of the Year by American Express and Entrepreneur Magazine. In 2006 and 2007, TransPerfect was named one of the largest privately-held companies by Crain’s New York Business.

You can read more about Elizabeth and her accomplishments at

http://www.transperfect.com/TLS/about/leadership.html